Back in September, we reported that the Transformers writers room had completed their work. It was originally thought that Transformers 5 would start shooting in June of this year, with Paramount aiming for a summer 2017 release date. Now that Michael Bay has been confirmed to direct, it seems production has been moved up slightly, with My Entertainment World reporting that shooting is now set to begin in May, although no specific shooting locations were mentioned.

Mark Wahlberg is returning as Cade Yeager from Transformers: Age of Extinction, but it isn't known quite yet if Nicola Peltz (Tessa Yeager) and Jack Reynor (Shane Dyson) will also be reprising their roles in the sequel. While no story details have been revealed quite yet, a recent profile on director Michael Bay teased "an underwater rendering of a crash-landed alien spaceship," along with a "new dump-truck Transformer with a cloak."

We reported in November that Ken Nolan and the writing team of Art Marcum & Matt Holloway will take over the Transformers 5 writing duties from Akiva Goldsman, who oversaw the writers room. Akiva Goldsman was originally set to write Transformers 5 himself, but he was brought on to oversee new writers rooms for G.I. Joe 3 and Micronauts, making him unavailable to write Transformers 5. It isn't known how far along the new writers are on the script yet, or if this change will affect the production start.

The writers room lead by Akiva Goldsman was tasked this summer to come up with ideas for Transformers 5, along with future spinoffs and sequels. The writers room also included Steven S. DeKnight (Daredevil), Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), Art Marcum & Matt Holloway (Iron Man), Zak Penn (Pacific Rim 2), Jeff Pinkner (The Amazing Spider-Man 2), Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari (Ant-Man), Christina Hodson, Lindsey Beers, Ken Nolan and Geneva Robertson-Dorsett. Michael Bay helped oversee the writers room, along with Steven Spielberg, Hasbro's Brian Goldner and producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian and Don Murphy.

There has also been a rumor that Transformers 5 will be the last movie featuring Optimus Prime. Hasbro also recently confirmed that Transformers 6, Transformers 7 and Transformers 8 are happening, but no concrete release details were given. Another project developed in the writers room is an animated spinoff called Cybertron, written by Ant-Man writers Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari. Are you excited that Transformers 5 starts shooting in just a few months?